Re: Replacing _The Nation_ ? was: Re: The Nation Magazine's tainted liberalism

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Lou Paulsen:
> (b) For the sake of discussion, how would this hypothetical publication
> differ from (1) Mother Jones, (2) the old Guardian newspaper of the 1960's,
> or (3) Z?  or (4) some other existing thing?  OR, for that matter, (5) the

In fact I am talking exactly about something like the old Guardian.

> (c) Is there some existing entity, Counterpunch for example (on
> conflict-of-interest grounds I am not mentioning swans.com), that could be
> 'boosted' into a more prominent role?  Or would it be better to start fresh?

Counterpunch and swans.com are both good, but what I have in mind is
something that would feature on-the-spot coverage from activists like Jon
Flanders in the Albany trade union movement or Derek Seidman from the
student movement. Counterpunch and swans.com are more like the equivalent
of a journal of opinion rather than an activist-oriented "what is to be
done" forum.

> (d) If it were better to start fresh, how to deal with the following
> contradiction: if one or two editors with a vision in mind get it up and
> running, then they won't be representative, accountable, etc.; but if some
> big left committee gets it up and running, it will be like a 'typical
> committee product' and won't print opinionated stuff.

I am of the opinion that all viewpoints within Marxism should be expressed
in such a publication, where they can contend with each other before the
working class and its allies. This, to remind comrades, was Lenin's goal
for Iskra.

> (e) How important is the paper side of it all?

I think it could be web-based, as long as there is an Acrobat version that
can be used to print multiple copies for people who don't have computers.


Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org


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